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March 29, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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Calving season is here! Spring on the Chico can be unpredictable, so we try and enjoy the beautiful days like today, and spend as much time outside as possible. Caleb is practicing his "cow whispering" skills, as he tells this young heifer not to be nervous about giving birth to her first baby. Mama cows are dispersed throughout the ranch, depending on their age and nutritional needs. Right now, we have a little over 100 heifers in the pasture that surrounds our home, the Holmes Place.
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Posted by Caroline F. on 03/29/2010
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Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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Yesterday was beautiful as we pushed and sorted around 200 heifers. The sun was shining with a few clouds here and there covering the blue sky. Today, as expected, we have lots of snow. Both the Subaru and the Dodge got stuck at the top of the hill at May Camp and Michael is coming to rescue the crew to take them to head quarters to work. Some drifts are nearly up to your knees. There is a 90% chance of heavy snow today, according to the weather online. We will see what happens. The prairie is really pretty all covered in white!
 
Picture of Aidan Moon on Napoleon March 23, 2010.
The picture on left was taken on March 15, 2010 and the picture on right was taken this morning on March 24, 2010 of the completed May Camp fence.
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/24/2010
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Thursday, March 18, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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Oh what a beautiful day! Everyone is spread out on the ranch working hard on their projects.
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/18/2010
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Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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The interns, Chase, and I worked on the May Camp picket fence yesterday. We are getting close! It looks really good!
 
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/16/2010
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Monday, May 15, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/16/2010
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Sunday, March 14, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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Why ranch life is great for kids!
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/14/2010
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Sunday, Mar 14, 2010
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Birding at the Chico
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The male Barrow's Goldeneye continues on the Chico Headquarters' Pond. The scinetific name, Bucephala, refers to the bison-shaped head of this species. The golden eye shows well in good light. Like Wood Duck, Hooded Merganser, Bufflehead, and Common Goldeneye, they nest in natrual tree cavities, often ones created by a large woodpecker. I am always amazed at how a flying duck with webbed feet can fly into a the entrance of a nest cavity without a crash-landing.
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Posted by Bill M. on 03/14/2010
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Wintering Harris's Sparrow
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Birding at the Chico
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John James Audubon named this large sparrow for his traveling companion, Edward Harris, on the 1843 Missouri River Expedition. The male's quavering song is used to describe the bird's scientific name, Zonotrichia querula. Harris's Sparrow is a rare winter visitor on the Chico.
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Posted by Bill M. on 03/14/2010
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Just Showin' Off
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Birding at the Chico
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The Red-winged Blackbird is perhaps the most common species and the most studied bird in North America. Assmebling in large winter flocks on the Chico (millions of birds in winter flocks in the southeast), males return to their cattail marsh breeding areas by March. The cattail marshes on Headquarters and Rose Ponds have male Red-wings scattered across all of the good territories, each one flashing its red and orange epaulet, advertizing for females.
Red-winged Blackbirds are polygynous, one male with multiple females, and up to 15 females have been reported from one male's territory. However, genetic studies have shown the females will often breed with more than one male, so sneaking around in the marsh is the norm.
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Posted by Bill M. on 03/14/2010
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Friday, March 12, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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WOW, it is a beautiful sun shinny day here at the ranch. All that wind blew in an awesome day! There is a crystal clear view of Pike’s Peak with a snow capped peak.
Chase was able to finish up the back hoe work yesterday with only a little bit more dirt moving to do once it has all settled. This is a special weekend as we have students from Fountain Valley High School staying at both our Lonestar Schoolhouse and Bar JH. They are here for a unique prairie and western experience. So far, they have gotten great weather! We hope they have a fantastic time while they are here and can learn a lot.
Have a great weekend!
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/12/2010
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Thursday, March 11, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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Today is extremely windy and it feels like something is blowing in, but the weather isn’t calling for a storm. Pike’s Peak can still be seen behind the low hanging clouds.
Chase is currently working on May Camp Drain Project #2. He will be finished either today or early tomorrow. It is another drain project that requires quite a bit of digging with the backhoe and taking measurements to purchase supplies from town. He has all of the supplies ready and a lot of the digging done with th pipes in place. He had a large load of river rock gravel delivered yesterday for the completion of the project.
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/11/2010
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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Back at the Ranch: Wow, after a great “all staff meeting” on Monday, we have an exciting road in front of us. Each and every person working here has planned an awesome spring. We are hitting the door running right now as we prepare for our spring season.
As I was driving the low road today to get to head quarters, I found out how friendly the Beef Master bull calves really are. They all started running for my car, looking for cake. The crew has been feeding them out of a truck, so they are used to getting feed from a vehicle. This is a picture of Sophie feeding the bull calves.
Picture courtesy of Sidonie White.
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/10/2010
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Cedar Waxwings near The Casita
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Birding at the Chico
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With yesterday's warm temperatures, a flock of Cedar Waxwings switched their diets from fruits (Russian olives) to insects. About 20 birds perched low in the olive trees, hawking small flying insects close to the ground.
Upper photograph is of a first year bird because the "wax" is seen only on the tail tips. After multiple years of ingesting lots of fruits, waxwings, and only waxwings, concentrate carotenoid pigments from the birds' diets in modified wing secondary feathers (see 2nd photogrph). The red tips are actually extensions of the birds' feathers. The same carotenoid piegments will produce entirely red feather coloration in other bird species. The waxwing yellow tail tips are yellow carotenoids and incoporated in the vanes of the waxwing tail feathers. In the eastern states and provinces, an exotic honeysuckle species has become a common ornamental planting beging in the 1960s. Cedar Waxwings like the honeysuckle fruits but the carotenoids in the exotic honeysuckles produces waxwing tails that are orange, not yellow in color.
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Posted by Bill M. on 03/07/2010
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New Ranch Bird
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Birding at the Chico
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Common Goldeneye with Tundra Swan
Early spring migration is in progress! With most of the Chico lakes now being ice-free, waterfowl are pouring through in big numbers. Saturday witnessed the first-ever record of Tundra Swan on the Chico with two first-of-the year birds on Headquarters Pond. Tundra Swans are uncommon in Colorado, breeding in shallow arctic tundra ponds where they eat tubers of many plant species. Their long necks enable them to reach into shallow water for their food at depths greater than dabbling ducks can, so they exploit deeper water than most non-diving waterfowl. In winter, Tundra Swans appear mostly on both coasts. Because most shallow Colorado lakes and ponds freeze by mid-December, few Tundra Swans spend the winter here.
Another rare Chico migrant, a male Barrow's Goldeneye also appeared on HQ Pond and the first Cinnamon Teal of the season also put in an appearance.
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Posted by Bill M. on 03/07/2010
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Saturday, March 5, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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History from 1950-2000
“Oscar Appelt Senior, a Texas cattleman, bought the 150,000 acre former Drinkard and Emmert ranch and other ranch property south of Colorado Springs in 1945 for $300,000 cash. He lived there for nine years. He died in about 1954. In 1949, the Red McMahon and Mike Levis ranches were purchased as well and increased the Appelt holdings to 175,000 acres, an area of 20 x 25 miles. It was planned to be stocked with 2,500 Herefords. This area has Black Squirrel, Chico, and Willow Creeks running through it.”
This concludes the last of the Chico Basin Ranch history series. Hope you have enjoyed looking back in time. Be looking forward to life on the ranch beginning again next week.
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/05/2010
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Friday, March 5, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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History from 1900-1950 continued
“While at Chico, a doctor prescribed leisurely walks in the sun for Artus, who looked for beds of kaolin, feldspar, and deposits of clay which could be used in his experiment. His health improved, he went back to his potter’s wheel where he turned out simple vases, pots, and bowls from the gray ranch clay. He designed his toast cup on a pedestal.
In the fall, he returned to town where he met Professor William Strieby, the Colorado College chemistry professor, who was also expert in mineralogy of the region. Interested in Van Briggle’s attempts to perfect a matte glaze, Strieby gave Van Briggle a corner in the lab in the basement of Cutler Hall. He used a crudely built kiln of clay and brick to work on glazes that had been used by Winfield Scott Stratton (a student of Strieby-source below*) for assaying test ore from his mines. Later, his father sent him a gas-fired kiln from his former studio.
As his physical condition deteriorated, Artus went back to the Holmes Ranch, where he modeled a number of designs for vases and bowls. By fall he returned to town.”
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/05/2010
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Thursday, March 4, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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“The following description probably describes to some extent what he (Artus Van Briggle) found at the Holmes Ranch as described by Richard Green, who lived there during the 1940’s when the ranch was owned by Oscar Appelt.
“The place where I live is the most beautiful place in El Paso County. This place is a small part of the big Appelt Ranch. It is known as the Holmes Ranch. This is situated on the west side of a large natural hay meadow (probably the Casita). There is a wide stream which runs through the center of this meadow; it is always green with water cress. Below this particular meadow there are three more large meadows. At one point, the stream and springs have been dammed up and made into a big lake (Vega Pond, built in late 1800’s, oldest reservoir on ranch, dry now, today, for the first time in anyone’s memory). This lake has been well-stocked with fish. I only have to get my rod and walk a short distance and there in the shade of large cotton woods and willows I catch the finest fish.
Our house is a modern six-room house with two porches. The houses on the ranch are all painted white and the out buildings are red. Even though we are 35 miles from town, we have beautiful blue grass lawns, shrubs, and flowers.
Mr. Appelt lives in the old Holmes Ranch house. This is a good old house with walls 24 inches thick, deep window seats, and each floor is a different level. Though the house has been here a good many years, it is still strong and in good condition. It has 8 or 10 rooms and is modern. It has a pretty yard, which is very large.
It has several bunk houses. In the early fall, a hay crew comes and cuts the waist high Vega grass in meadows and bales it. Last year, Mr. Appelt got about 23,000 bales of Vega Hay. This is very fine for cattle. It consists of blue grass and timothy and many other grasses.
Another attraction for Mr. Appelt’s Ranch is his airplane. He takes me for a hop every now and then. Most of all, I like the round-ups in spring and fall. When I grow up I hope, I too, shall have a fine big ranch, as fine as the one I’m lucky enough to be living on now.
(It is unknown whether Artus Van Briggle lived in the main Holmes house or in one of the bunk houses during his time at the Holmes Ranch.)”
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/04/2010
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Wednesday, March 3, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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History from 1900-1950
“1899-1900: ARTUS VAN BRIGGLE decided that matte glazes and ceramics allowed expression for him better than canvas. Health deteriorating due to overwork, long hours, no leisure time, developed TB. Friend from Paris, William Thorne, recommended Colorado Springs. He arrived in March of 1899. He brought a few pair clothes, small turning wheel, some tools, and vases, plus, the first piece of pottery with the first glaze he perfected in Cincinnati. He lived first with the Sutton family on North Tejon Street, and then he went to Chico Basin Ranch owned by M. and M. William Holmes. Artus was always jolly and well-liked and enjoyed entertaining people. He spent much of his time playing the piano for the family and ranch workers every day. He played by ear and loved fun and good jokes.”
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/03/2010
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Tuesday, March 2, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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"The Skinner and Tabor Ranch sheep ranch was started in 1878 by Lewis C. Skinner and Horace A. W. Tabor (“Haw” Tabor of the boom and bust mining and political fame). It was later managed for over 39 years by the heirs of the two original partners, Maxie Tabor and George Skinner, and was known as the Bar JH Land and Cattle Company. (Picture of what Bar JH looks like today.) Eventually it too was sold to Emmert and Drinkard and added to their acreage in southeast Colorado.
By 1945, when this 150,000-acre consolidation of ranches was finally sold by Drinkard and Emmert it was considered to be the largest ranch east of the Rockies in Colorado. Oscar Appelt was the Texas cattleman who bought the ranch and other ranch property south of Colorado Springs in 1945 for $300,000 cash. In 1949, the Red McMahon and Mike Levis ranches were purchased as well, and increased the Appelt holdings to 175,000 acres, an area of 20 x 25 miles, that included Black Squirrel, Chico, and Willow Creeks. He planned to stock the ranch with 2,500 Herefords. After living at the ranch for only 9 years, Mr. Appelt died in 1954. After his father’s death, Oscar Appelt Jr. sold the ranch to the Arizona-Colorado Cattle Company, a corporation with stockholders, which was the largest private land owner in the state in 1967."
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/02/2010
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Monday, March 1, 2010
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LIVE from the Ranch
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Happy March!!
History of the Chico Continued: "One of the first was originally known as the Tolle Ranch. A neighbor to the south of the Holmes Ranch, along the same spring-fed riparian axis of the Chico Basin was owned by the elderly bachelor, Emmanuel C. Tolle, who homesteaded in the area in 1869. Bill Holmes remembered a day when a beautiful young school teacher from Iowa appeared at their door inquiring directions to the Tolle Ranch. Mr. Tolle, had hired her to teach at the school on his ranch. She later married Mr. Tolle, but the marriage soon ended when Mr. Tolle died, although she retained the ranch. Mrs. Tolle later remarried, this time to Mr. Nuckles of the Nuckles Packing Company in Pueblo. A few years later, he also died, leaving her his entire estate. She then married for the third time to Mr. Lou May. At this time, fortunes turned for the worse, and after a succession of misfortunes and losses, the couple was forced to sell the May (Tolle??) Ranch to the Drinkard and Emmert Company.
Two other ranches in the locality purchased at about the same time by the Drinkard and Emmert Company were the Rose Ranch, just south of the Holmes, and the Skinner and Tabor Ranch. The Rose Ranch was originally settled by Mr. Degraff in 1871, the same year that William Holmes started his operation. His original claim was on 160 acres, but like everyone else, he ran stock out on the government-owned range. He primarily dealt in sheep, running around 6,000 head. Wool rather than meat was the cash crop for the early sheep operations. Mr. Degraff was very successful with his sheep, bit in 1887, he switched to shorthorn cattle. With this, he also proved successful and was recognized as having some of the finest shorthorn cattle in the state. Later, the Rose family, a prominent ranching family in the southern part of the state yet today, acquired the ranch, and were the ones to sell it to Drinkard and Emmert."
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Posted by Kinsey R. on 03/01/2010
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